Purple-bearded Bee-eater
Meropogon forsteni
An unmistakable large bee-eater with elongated central tail feathers, a green back and uppertail, and a diagnostic deep purple face and throat. Purple throat is more extensive in males. Juveniles are greener below, less purple, and lack long central tail feathers. Typically found singly or in pairs in the understory and canopy of forests and forest clearings within the foothills and mountains of Sulawesi. Call is a distinctive, high-pitched “tsiyup,” slurred upward.
Identification
The purple-bearded bee-eater is a colourful long bird with a long tail, long slender decurved beak and rather rounded wings. It is 25–26 cm (9.8–10.2 in) long, excluding 66 cm (26 in) of tail streamers.<p>The adult male has a purple head, face, “beard” (long hanging throat feathers), breast and upper belly. The upperparts, wings and tail are green, apart from a reddish-brown nape, and the central tail feathers are elongated as streamers. The lower belly is reddish-brown and the underside of the tail is chestnut.<p>The adult female is similar, but the forebelly is reddish-brown, not purple. Young birds have a green crown and nape, dusky face and bluish beard. They lack the elongated central tail feathers of the adult.<p>The call is a quiet high-pitched szit or peep.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Meropogon forsteni
- Authority
- Bonaparte, 1850
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Meropidae
- Genus
- Meropogon
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The purple-bearded bee-eater undertakes seasonal movements, breeding inland in the dry season, and moving to the coast in the rainy season. Like other bee-eaters it nests in burrows up to 90 cm long tunnelled into the side of sandy river banks, cliffs and cuttings, but does not form colonies.<p>The purple-bearded bee-eater, again like its relatives, eats insects, including bees, wasps and dragonflies and beetles, which are caught in flight. This species hunts alone or in pairs, rather than in flocks, and sits on a favoured perch for long periods, twisting its head with its beard flattened or plumped, and wagging its tail back and forth before sallying after passing prey.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Short-tailed Parrot
Graydidascalus brachyurus
Medium-sized, uniformly bright green parrot with a short tail. Note the indistinct black eye-line, the dusky bill, and the darker green flight feathers; other parrots have more colorful plumage and longer tails. Inhabits seasonally flooded forest along large rivers, occasionally venturing into adjacent urban areas.
Eastern Crested Berrypecker
Paramythia montium
A medium-sized bird of upper-montane forest and shrubland. Mainly slaty-gray color with green back and yellow lower belly and sides. Note the black face, chest and crest which it can hold up or down. Also note the striking white mark from behind the eye to the back of the head. Can be found singly, in pairs, or in small flocks, which sometimes join mixed flocks with other birds. Very similar to Western Crested Berrypecker, but little or no overlap in range, and separated by longer white mark behind eye, brighter green back, and yellow along the sides. Not very vocal, but does give various scratchy calls and a nasal “wek!”.
Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler
Bradypterus cinnamomeus
Mid-sized warbler with a long tail. Rufous overall, with a white throat and pale eye-line. Found in various open montane habitats, including bracken, heath, dense scrub, and forest edge. Skulks in the understory, though sometimes emerges into the open. The song starts with one or a couple of high notes, followed by a low, loose trill. The call is a peevish “tree-aat.” Similar to Evergreen-forest Warbler, but in most of the range distinguished by much more rufous overall coloration. Around the Albertine Rift, distinguished from the rufous local subspecies of Evergreen-forest Warbler by the well-defined white throat.
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